Yesterday I met some internet people in RL. It was a ride put together by someone on the C+ web forum.
It was all good fun. But I was struck by how this new generation of internet users have almost no knowledge of usenet. I've been using usenet for years; I like the relatively open and non-proprietorial structure. I even grudgingly tolerate deja style archiving as it creates a truely open and searchable cache of knowledge.
It appears that however much I dislike web forums, they do seem to be taking over as the internet discussion tool.
So why do you C+ forum then ? What is your point ? That everyone should be using usenet instead of web forums ? While I agree that it would indeed serve the same purpose, especially as the C+ forum with no graphics I'd like to suggest a possible reason why usenet isn't used more widely. Not everyone uses an mail/new client. Not everyone is able nor wants to install such a beast on their machines. Look at the flack people, including myself, have recieved on here when attempting to use a browser interface to u.r.c. . Google groups access is delayed makingit useless, GG 2 is quirky, intermitent and doesn't follow the rules. Cycclingforums is highly frowned upon. Is it any wonder that people don't bother using usenet for this group ?
......................, although it's only usenet and it doesn't have to be taken that seriously
sigh, I know but in it sometimes is taken very seriously by posters on here. Such replies such as "if you can play by the rules then don't play at all" simply because GG2 wasn't threading properly is really not necessary.
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GG 2 is quirky, intermitent and doesn't follow the rules. Cycclingforums is highly frowned upon. Is it any wonder that people don't bother using usenet for this group ?
I think there are already plenty of valuable contributors here: I'm happy that most people go elsewhere.
Can never have plenty of valuable contributors, how will we know what we are missing ?
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I'm on a couple of email lists that also work pretty well, but on the whole I am wary of privately-owned (and moderated) fora.
On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 06:39:49 -0700, MSeries <[email hidden]>
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Quoted message said:
It appears that however much I dislike web forums, they do seem to be taking over as the internet discussion tool.
So why do you C+ forum then ? What is your point ? That everyone should be using usenet instead of web forums ?
My "point" was merely an observation that in the past if you wanted to discuss your favoured subject, you used usenet and so did all other interested parties on the internet. Today most people and certainly the new generation of users turn to web forums by default.
I'm not sure I was saying everyone *should* use usenet; it's a matter of choice. But we as a community are certainly losing something collectively as the division, privatisation and censorship of discussion takes place.
Why do I use the C+ forum? Because I like talking about cycling. The fact that I don't rate then venue is secondary.
